N5
動詞(名詞修飾)
どうし(めいししゅうしょく)
Verb modified noun, Relative clause
たかしさんは東京に住んでいた男だ。
Takashi-san is a man who used to live in Tokyo.
Explanation
The plain form of a verb can go directly before a noun to modify it: 「昨日買った本」 (the book I bought yesterday), 「割れた窓」 (the broken window), 「走っている人」 (the person who is running). 「た」 means it has happened or been completed; 「ている」 means it is in progress or the state continues. The ます-form cannot be used.
Mixed up with
Do not add 「の」: Chinese says 'the book (that I) read', but Japanese never says 「読んだの本」 or 「走っているの人」.
The subject inside the modifying part takes 「が」, not 「は」: 「母が作ったケーキ」 (the cake my mother made), never 「母は作ったケーキ」.